To never have another smear test again.

[Whiskyinajar]

Today I went for my first smear test in a decade ....I've never found them easy and today was no exception. In fact today the smear test couldn't be done as I was in so much pain and it was so uncomfortable that the nurse could not even open the speculum. She did say that she could just about visualise my cervix and the visually it looked healthy.

I'm 55 and I've been through several smear tests, I've never found them easy. I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and I have vaginismus hence all smear tests being horrific..

I left the health centre today feeling a failure which I know isn't a logical feeling, I know I am not a failure and that the issue is psychosexual.

However in terms of risk factors I am low risk. I've only ever had two sexual partners and I am a non smoker and always have been.

I'm going to write to my GP and tell her I am opting out of further smear tests.

The nurse today said they would refer me to gynaecology as they may have more success. Tbh I will not allow anyone near me with a speculum ever again unless they sedate me first.

I'm also looking a self testing kits which the NHS don't recommend, however I know in North London there is a current study looking at self testing kits and that these are used successfully in parts of Europe.

Tempted to order one and just share the result with my GP.

Help! Anyone else been in this situation.

@meggymoo777 thankyou this was very helpful I have moved around abit over the years had one good GP in Sheffield but my new one seems nice, nicer than some of the others and wants to support my mental health etc so I will bring this up at my implant removal appointment and hope they are polite

I had my first at 15 and it left me traumatised.

Quite shocked by how this this thread is going advising people to opt out. I had a routine smear aged 30, healthy lifestyle, only several partners yet it came back cin3 positive. I feel this smear test saved my life, i hadn't even missed a smear test and I'd gone from a normal result to needing emergency treatment within the week to remove the cells within the routine time between smears. I'd only had 1 partner within that time frame. . Smears are awful yes but they save lives, i know my cells were almost at the cancer stage and so glad I'd gone along that day.
Please even if there is a less invasive test out there the nhs still obviously feels a smear is the optimum otherwise it would change it, please don't miss your smear tests if you "feel low risk" as it clearly in my experience doesn't matter even if you are

[quote Mally2020]@meggymoo777 thankyou this was very helpful I have moved around abit over the years had one good GP in Sheffield but my new one seems nice, nicer than some of the others and wants to support my mental health etc so I will bring this up at my implant removal appointment and hope they are polite[/quote]
Glad to hear my message helped a little @Mally2020 x

I do think the person doing the smear makes a big difference, I'd be looking for more than just 'polite' though, it's an intimate procedure, particularly for those of us that have had any sort of sexual trauma I needed to be confident in their understanding of my situation and you should be too, you don't need to settle for polite - find some way to screen that works for you, but please be screened.

I miss my friend so, so, so much and every time I visit her grave it's just surreal, she didn't need to go that young.

All I can do is mind myself and encourage others to do the same x

@sarahc336 thankyou, I am trying to show no matter the past or current situation it's a short period to ensure your safety and shows any problems etc

@sarahc336 I'm quite shocked too Sarah, I won't judge anyone for their thoughts on the matter but I've seen the devastating effects of opting out of smears, it broke my heart, I lost the most wonderful woman. I know it's only been 3 years but I'm not sure I'll ever get over it, think of her most days 😔

I think your experience is a prime example of why regular testing is vital, things can change so fast and it doesn't matter how many sexual partners you have. I'm so glad that your particular situation came out as a positive ❤️ x

@sarahc336 I'm more shocked about the scaremongering tbh. Eg you say you needed emergency surgery. You didn't. Had you not had surgery, very likely your cin3 cells would have resolved themselves. If they didn't, you had a 12% chance of them becoming cancerous over the next 30 years. It was not an emergency. It was very far from an emergency indeed. We need to stop using this kind of language around women facing the prospect of painful procedures which most of them don't need.

Again @SomewhereUpMyArse I really genuinely don't mean to cause offence, or start an argument but do you have medical qualifications?
You do seem to be confident in the stats you provide and rather than questioning another PP about her definition of an emergency, it could be more helpful if you shared your medical knowledge in a non confrontational way.

Thanks to everyone who has said you can insist on sedation - I will be doing that if I need to go again.

Ultimately I agree with @LangClegsInSpace that if routine appointments are causing so much distress, something is wrong with the system. As someone said, men would not put up with this.

Everyone who has asked about the HPV self test, it is so much easier than the smear. It's just a small swab that you twist round a couple of times.

forwomenseyesonly.com/

@MarisPiper92

Thanks to everyone who has said you can insist on sedation - I will be doing that if I need to go again.

Ultimately I agree with @LangClegsInSpace that if routine appointments are causing so much distress, something is wrong with the system. As someone said, men would not put up with this.

Everyone who has asked about the HPV self test, it is so much easier than the smear. It's just a small swab that you twist round a couple of times.

I agree with some of your post,... bar the bit about men. Would you like to have a finger (or two) put inside your anus for a prostate exam? A swab inside your penis for certain STI tests? Hell, some people are terrified of needles, should they never have a vaccination/ blood test? Some people are genuinely terrified of doctors and hospitals, should they be told they should never visit them? I hate getting fillings? Should I just let my teeth rot? Yes, I agree, we should definitely work towards non invasive procedures but some things are uncomfortable but they are for the greater good.

[quote JamieFrasersAuntie]forwomenseyesonly.com/[/quote]
This site is a lot to take on and I'd like @MNHQ to take a look please

@Springsnake

So someone who only ever had one partner ,and that partner only had 2 partners Would the person really need to go for one

What has the amount of partners got to do with testing that is Irrelevant It's about your health

I am at a complete loss to see why sexually active women feel that a smear test is so invasive. It is a tiny little swab like an earbud, just taking a sample.

If you are sexually active, why can't you cope with a little swab? Surely you must be used to something a lot 'bigger' if you are sexually active?

I fully understand teenage girls, abuse victims, and women who are not sexually active being scared, tensed up, and then feeling pain.

But, fully grown women who have given birth multiple times? Scared? The speculum is tiny compared to a penis. It is minute compared to a baby's head. How can you have sex lots of times, give birth vaginally numerous times, and then be scared of a tiny swab?

I really don't understand how a woman can have sex many times, give birth vaginally several times, and then be scared of something akin to a cotton bud being inserted into her cervix. I really don't get it.

I have had two vaginal births and I attend my smears every three years. It is far less invasive than having a tooth out.

When the nurse says 'going in', I just look the other way and breathe deeply out. All done.

I can't believe the fuss over this. Choose your battles. This isn't one of them. It isn't invasive and it isn't uncomfortable at all as long as you don't look and breathe slowly. You are taking the views of a minority of women as a given. This is not representative. In my opinion, smear tests do not hurt as long as you breathe out. If you breathe in and tense your muscles, it will hurt.

Money should be spent on relaxation techniques not blanket bans on smear tests. I have supported you until now. You just sound like you are bleeting now in the middle of a pandemic and no one will listen or take you seriously.

This is one of your WOMAN t-shirt wearing allies before you ban me. I just think you are barking up the wrong tree with this topic,

@SnackSizeRaisin

I imagine the treatment for cervical cancer would be FAR more invasive and stressful for you

That's not a helpful comment, is it. The smears don't actually prevent cancer you know. Also, false positive smears lead to unnecessary investigations which is an acknowledged downside of the screening programme.

OP - the screening programme is every 5 years at your age and stops at 64. So if you were to have this one, you would only be called for one more. Or a urine test for HPV could be another option to discuss with the GP (may have to do privately).

But it is Best to prevent or try prevent Speaking as a person who knows a women with cancer and it is not pleasant Age, sexual partners doesn't matter cancers are not bias Given the health system atm I would keep yourself in good health checks rather than months or years of treatments makes more sense? Sedation or something than life with a health issue any day.. speaking from experience of being around cancer patients.

Asking again for @MNHQ to step in again and review here as I feel there is misinformation about the inefficiency of regular cervical screening in actually picking up cervical cancer.

Yes, the cervical screening system has its flaws, but it's what we have and I believe actively encouraging people not to be screened is incredibly detrimental

I certainly don't think people should avoid cancer screening - I just wonder why women should be put through a test that so many find distressing when a less invasive alternative is already available.

@meggymoo777 no I'm not a doctor and neither are you but you're advocating that traumatised women drug themselves in order to have procedures they find painful and which are statistically unlikely to be of any use to them. I got my info off the NHS website.

Additionally, it is utterly uncontroversial that removing cells which may become cancerous over the course of the next few decades is not emergency surgery. Telling women that this procedure is emergency surgery - with the implication that if they don't have the test that indicates it is advisable and therefore don't have this "emergency surgery" they will die - is irresponsible.

@Meggymoo777

Asking again for *@MNHQ* to step in again and review here as I feel there is misinformation about the inefficiency of regular cervical screening in actually picking up cervical cancer.

Yes, the cervical screening system has its flaws, but it's what we have and I believe actively encouraging people not to be screened is incredibly detrimental

Completely agree. This thread is giving off a message is 'don't bother if you don't want to'. Very wrong.

Certain posters are also perpetuating the myth of how invasive and painful it is. If someone has had sex with a man and given birth to a child vaginally, this procedure is not at all invasive. To say that it is is disingenuous.

This is a load of fuss about nothing. Do you think men's sexual health exams are any easier? Fancy a cotton bud being plunged down your bell end into your penis. You think that is pleasant? I have heard the howling from men on the other side of the door.

This is one of the few occasions that I will say...women? Get a grip.

@SylviaGold and yet, many women do report that it is distressing. And apparently as we've found out tonight there is an alternative that we're not being offered which if we were means we could be screened without distress and pain.

But never mind eh, those wonen are just making a fuss. I'm sure everything would be better if we could all just be like you.*

• This sentence is a lie.

If someone has had sex with a man and given birth to a child vaginally, this procedure is not at all invasive. To say that it is is disingenuous.

Mate. Google vaginal atrophy, cervical erosion, sexual trauma, PTSD ... and that's just for starters in terms of the many many reasons why women cannot tolerate smear tests. I'm actually embarrassed for you.

I’m another who struggles .

I was sexually assaulted and have numerous problems down below - have had multiple complex surgeries in my teens and twenties, so vulva is quite literally covered in scar tissue - and hundreds of examinations, scans etc . I am absolutely petrified of internals to the point I’ve blacked out in the middle . I started having internals at age eight .

My GP told me she wouldn’t believe I had vaginismus until she had seen it for herself; which meant she told me I had to try to have a smear . GP and two nurses in the room, tried to force a speculum in, I ended up in tears and bleeding and GP said, I suppose you do have a problem .

I don’t know why she had to force me through it to get help . It’s on my notes a thousand times, previous wonderful GP wrote in B&W that there was an agreement that I would never be asked to undergo internals unless absolute emergency .

The practice nurse actually snapped at the GP and pointed out that a) I’m a virgin and b) having had the surgery I’ve had, my vagina doesn’t stretch easily !

They told me I still absolutely had to undergo a smear however, in case I ended up with cancer, playing to my health anxiety - and gave me a couple of Valium and codeine tablets which meant I slept through .

But GP told me next time I need to try and be sensible and go without ....

Gynaecology are the same, you have to demonstrate that a procedure is too painful before they stop or offer pain relief or anaesthetic . They’ve even told me the next surgery I have they want me to try without anaesthetic to see how I get on .

It’s horrendous and would not happen under any speciality .

[quote SomewhereUpMyArse]@SylviaGold and yet, many women do report that it is distressing. And apparently as we've found out tonight there is an alternative that we're not being offered which if we were means we could be screened without distress and pain.

But never mind eh, those wonen are just making a fuss. I'm sure everything would be better if we could all just be like you.*

• This sentence is a lie.[/quote] I am sure there are many tests that the NHS could do that would be less stressful.

Look at blood tests. You have people who can't stand needles etc. They find it very stressful. But they are in the minority, just like the 'scared of cervical smears' camp. Yet, blood tests remain the first line investigation for many suspected illnesses.

I had to have a full body scan. One of those where you lie down and pass through a scanning machine. It took an hour. I was dreading it and I hated every minute, but I realised it was a means to an end. If I had refused it, the NHS consultant would have discharged me. Should I have demanded an alternative because I didn't like it?

The NHS operates for the masses not the few. If these few women who are so frightened of having a cotton swab, they can pay for private treatment. The rest of us will just get on with it. Just like everybody else who 'doesn't like' NHS procedures.

My FIL has to have injections into his eyeballs for macular degeneration. Does he like it? No. Does he grin and bear it? Yes. Then he thinks himself lucky to have received such groundbreaking eye treatment so he can still see.

This is not a hill to die on. Instead of celebrating cancer care for women, you are denigrating it.

@SomewhereUpMyArse

If someone has had sex with a man and given birth to a child vaginally, this procedure is not at all invasive. To say that it is is disingenuous.

Mate. Google vaginal atrophy, cervical erosion, sexual trauma, PTSD ... and that's just for starters in terms of the many many reasons why women cannot tolerate smear tests. I'm actually embarrassed for you.

That is a minority. Special provisions should be put in place for women in those situations. That does not mean the whole screening programme should be scrapped and changed.

Don't feel embarrassed for me. I am able to see both sides of a debate. You seem to be perpetually on the side of those poor, wronged women. Give it a rest. You are boring yourself now.

@SomewhereUpMyArse

If someone has had sex with a man and given birth to a child vaginally, this procedure is not at all invasive. To say that it is is disingenuous.

Mate. Google vaginal atrophy, cervical erosion, sexual trauma, PTSD ... and that's just for starters in terms of the many many reasons why women cannot tolerate smear tests. I'm actually embarrassed for you.

Look up the under-diagnosis of under active thyroid disorders, that mainly affect middle aged women, under the NHS. THAT is a travesty and a hill to die on.